The American Biogas Council is asking project developers to provide them with information that they can use to convince lawmakers to extend the Section 1603 grant program deadline.

The program was created as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and allows qualifying renewable energy project developers that are eligible for the federal production tax credit or investment tax credit to opt instead for a 30 percent investment tax credit from the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The deadline for qualifying for these grants is Dec. 31. The ABC wants that deadline and the placed in service date, which is Jan. 1, 2014, extended.

The information gathered will be use to ascertain what the economic impact would be if the deadline is not extended. Specifically, they are looking for four numbers from developers whose projects would be negatively impacted if the deadline is not extended. Developers are asked how many projects they are working on, the total electrical capacity for all the projects (in megawatts), states where the projects are located and to estimate the total investment for constructing the facilities (in millions of dollars). To fill out this easy form, go to http://americanbiogascouncil.org/legislative_action.asp.

The ABC is also asking biogas project developers to support H.R. 66, a bill that would amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for an investment tax credit for waste-to-energy facilities. “Those qualifying facilities would use feedstocks such as municipal solid waste or sewage sludge and produce gas fuel for producing energy in addition to valuable solid and liquid byproducts,” according to the ABC. “The use of these organic wastes as feedstocks to produce a renewable energy would divert waste which would normally be placed in a landfill, thereby avoiding the uncontrolled emission of methane gas and extending the life of the landfill.”

The ABC is also hosting a webinar about the 1603 program, where experts will discuss how the program works, who qualifies and what some of the terms such as “commence construction” mean.